Rekha Rodwittiya The Rituals of Memory: Personal Folklores and Other Tales

Aicon Gallery Exhibition February 4th – February 27th, 2016 Press Preview & Opening Reception: Thursday, February 4th 6:00pm – 9:00pm 35 Great Jones St., New York NY 10012

Aicon Gallery New York is proud to announce Rekha Rodwittiya – The Rituals of Memory: Personal Folklores and Other Tales, the first major showing of the artist’s work in New York City in two decades. A pioneering feminist artist and voice from the Indian subcontinent, Rodwittiya rose to prominence throughout the 80s and 90s through her strikingly idiosyncratic depictions of female forms, rituals and spaces. Drawn from both the personal experiences and memories of her own feminist journey and the larger historical struggles of women through the centuries, her work was an early rejection of the tropes of a male dominated South Asian art world and its traditionally voyeuristic treatment of the female subject. This exhibition is the second in a series of exhibitions re-examining figuration in Modern and Contemporary South Asian art to be held at Aicon Gallery, New York over the next two years.

Rekha Rodwittiya’s iconic, starkly delineated female figures are often viewed as concrete embodiments of the artist’s complex psychological insights into the personal and historical struggles and day-to-day challenges of modern womanhood. The simply rendered yet powerful, sometimes confrontational, figures in Rekha Rodwittiya, Rekha @ 50, 2008, Acrylic and oil on these works seem to simultaneously stand as symbols of an canvas, 84 x 60 in. ongoing struggle in the feminist realm, while refusing to be reduced to objects for visual consumption or easy interpretation. The classically poised figures carry or are surrounded by everyday household objects, reminiscent of the mythical attributes of deities found accompanying ancient sculpture. By deliberately calling attention to both the trappings and traditions of viewing the naked female body, stretching from antiquity straight through to early modernism, Rodwittiya re-appropriates these familiar archetypes and their objects of domesticity for use in her highly individual interpretation of feminist art practice.

Key to this practice and central to the striking group of a dozen or so works on canvas in this exhibition is the tension created between Rodwittiya’s confrontational avatars and the viewer. Imbued with both a deeply personal cache of experience and ideology as well as centuries of feminist history, the figures often directly stare down the viewer, demanding a reckoning with the past struggles and injustices they embody rather than a simple aesthetic assessment as objects of visual art. However, these figures are not here solely to intimidate or confront, but also seek to engage our empathy and appreciation for the deeper meanings behind their existence. Rodwittiya herself provides some context into her desires surrounding this delicate interplay, stating that “the female figure, often in isolation, becomes the presence that bears witness to the passage of time. Embodied through the centuries with the energies that hold the continuums of being a life-giving force, I place the female figure as the central focus to be encountered…like protective guardians of the universe.”

In addition to this central group of works on canvas, the exhibition features a large body of mixed media works combining Rodwittiya’s iconic figures with intricately woven collage work derived from her personal photography. Significantly, this represents the first use of photography in the artist’s work in over twenty-eight years and marks the return of yet another important layer to the complex autobiographical nature of her process. The outlines of these new figures are derived from those used in past paintings, while the montaged photographs function as elements of dress or in some cases a second skin. Once again these new works use the female form to create a site of retrieval for both personal and shared histories, “retraced liked mapped terrains…archived like from an archaeological survey.”

Also on view will be a rarely seen suite of Rodwittiya’s early works drawn from the Chester and Davida Herwitz Collection, providing a retrospective view into the artist’s formative years. Assembled during trips to India from the 1960s through 1980s, the Herwitz Collection represents the largest and most comprehensive collection of Indian Modern Art ever assembled Rekha Rodwittiya, Matters of the Heart, 2013, Digital outside of India. The collection includes masterworks by M. F. inkjet print with autobiographic photo images and hand painted watercolor on paper, 84 x 60 in. Husain, Tyeb Mehta, Jamini Roy and countless other modern masters from the subcontinent.

Rekha Rodwittiya was born in Bangalore in 1958. She studied painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda (B.A. fine 1981), and at the Royal College of Art, London (M.A. 1984, on the Inlaks Scholarship). She held her first solo show in 1982 in Baroda, and has subsequently held solo exhibitions in New Delhi, Mumbai, Singapore, New York, London, Venice and Stockholm, among other locations. Her work has been included in several group exhibitions in India and internationally, including the VI International Triennial, New Delhi (1986), India in Switzerland: Six Young Contemporaries, Geneva (1987), Dialogues of Peace, Geneva to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the United Nations, Geneva, Inside Out: Women Artists of India, a touring exhibition in the UK (1995-96) and many others. She has traveled widely and lectured on contemporary Indian art at the invitation of many institutions and participated in several fellowships and artist residencies in Sweden, France, the United States, and the U.K. She has also written at length on contemporary art and routinely curates exhibitions of young artists' works. This is her first solo exhibition with Aicon Gallery New York.

Please contact Aicon Gallery ([email protected]) for more information.

Rekha Rodwittiya

Rekha Rodwittiya, Rekha @ 50 (Blue), 2008, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 84 x 60 in. Rekha Rodwittiya

Rekha Rodwittiya, Rekha @ 50 (Pink), 2008, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 84 x 60 in. Rekha Rodwittiya

Rekha Rodwittiya, Rekha @ 50 (Orange), 2008, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 72 x 48 in. Rekha Rodwittiya

Rekha Rodwittiya, Rekha @ 50 (Teal), 2008, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 72 x 48 in. Rekha Rodwittiya

Rekha Rodwittiya, Second Skin, 2009, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 60 x 84 in. Rekha Rodwittiya

Rekha Rodwittiya, Matters of the Heart (Figure I), 2014, Digital inkjet print with autobiographic photo images and hand-painted watercolor on paper, 30 x 22 in. Rekha Rodwittiya

Rekha Rodwittiya, Matters of the Heart (Figure II), 2014, Digital inkjet print with autobiographic photo images and hand-painted watercolor on paper, 30 x 22 in. Rekha Rodwittiya

Rekha Rodwittiya, Matters of the Heart (Figure III), 2014, Digital inkjet print with autobiographic photo images and hand-painted watercolor on paper, 84 x 60 in. Rekha Rodwittiya

Rekha Rodwittiya, Matters of the Heart (Figure IV), 2014, Digital inkjet print with autobiographic photo images and hand-painted watercolor on paper, 84 x 60 in. Rekha Rodwittiya

Rekha Rodwittiya, Matters of the Heart (Figure V), 2014, Digital inkjet print with autobiographic photo images and hand-painted watercolor on paper, 84 x 60 in. Rekha Rodwittiya

Rekha Rodwittiya, Matters of the Heart (Figure VI), 2014, Digital inkjet print with autobiographic photo images and hand-painted watercolor on paper, 84 x 60 in. Rekha Rodwittiya

Rekha Rodwittiya, Matters of the Heart (Figure VII), 2014, Digital inkjet print with autobiographic photo images and hand-painted watercolor on paper, 84 x 60 in. Rekha Rodwittiya

Rekha Rodwittiya, Nayika/Guddiya (Purple), 2009, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 36 x 24 in. Rekha Rodwittiya

Rekha Rodwittiya, Nayika/Guddiya (Blue), 2009, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 36 x 24 in. Rekha Rodwittiya

Rekha Rodwittiya, Nayika/Guddiya (Red), 2009, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 36 x 24 in. Rekha Rodwittiya

Rekha Rodwittiya, Nayika (Blue), 2009, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 24 x 24 in. Rekha Rodwittiya

Rekha Rodwittiya, Nayika (Orange), 2009, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 24 x 24 in. Rekha Rodwittiya

Rekha Rodwittiya, Nayika (Red), 2009, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 24 x 24 in. Rekha Rodwittiya

Rekha Rodwittiya, Matters of the Heart (Head I), 2013, Digital inkjet print with autobiographic photo images and hand-painted watercolor on paper, 60 x 60 in. Rekha Rodwittiya

Rekha Rodwittiya, Matters of the Heart (Head II), 2013, Digital inkjet print with autobiographic photo images and hand-painted watercolor on paper, 60 x 60 in. Rekha Rodwittiya

Rekha Rodwittiya, Matters of the Heart (Head III), 2013, Digital inkjet print with autobiographic photo images and hand-painted watercolor on paper, 60 x 60 in. Rekha Rodwittiya

Rekha Rodwittiya, Matters of the Heart (Head IV), 2013, Digital inkjet print with autobiographic photo images and hand-painted watercolor on paper, 60 x 60 in. Rekha Rodwittiya

Rekha Rodwittiya, Matters of the Heart (Head V), 2013, Digital inkjet print with autobiographic photo images and hand-painted watercolor on paper, 60 x 60 in. Rekha Rodwittiya

Rekha Rodwittiya, Matters of the Heart (Head VI), 2013, Digital inkjet print with autobiographic photo images and hand-painted watercolor on paper, 60 x 60 in.

REKHA RODWITTIYA

Education

1982-84 MA (Painting) Royal College of Art, London, UK. Awarded a distinction for my thesis “A Painful Journey”. Received The Unilever Painting Prize at the degree show. 1982-83 Studied Film & Video at the Fulham Institute, London, UK 1982 Awarded Inlaks Scholarship to study at the Royal College of Art London, U.K 1978 Studied & practiced photography under the guidance of Prof Jyoti Bhatt 1976 BFA Painting, Faculty of Fine Arts, MS University, Baroda, India

Solo Exhibitions

2016 ‘Love done right can change the World’- To be presented at Vadehra Gallery, Delhi ‘The Rituals of Memory: Personal Folklores & Other Tales’ To be presented at Aicon Gallery New York 2014 ‘The Guarded Megalopolis of the Feminine Heart’, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai 2013 ‘Matters of the Heart,’ Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai 2011 'Intangible Interlocution: An Anthology of Belonging', Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai 2008 Rekha@ fifty Sakshi Gallery, Bombay 2007 Second Skin, Air Gallery & Sakshi Gallery, London, UK Second Skin, Maya Gallery & Sakshi Gallery, London, UK 2006 Once Upon A Time…, Sakshi Gallery at Shridharani, Delhi 2005 Encrypted Soliloquies, Sakshi Gallery at Art Folio, Singapore 2003 Bye-Bye Baby, Sakshi Gallery, Bombay Old Fables : New Myths, Sakshi Gallery in collaboration with Sarjan Art Gallery, Baroda 2001 Subtexts, Sakshi Gallery, Bangalore 1999 Time Zones: Home & Away, Sakshi Gallery, Bombay 1998 Evocations, Studio Barbieri, Venice, Italy 1997 My Body – My Land, Sakshi Gallery, Bangalore Re-Inscribing Ancestries, Nazar Gallery, Baroda Borders/Territories, Apparao Galleries at Gallery 678 New York, USA 1996 In Shades of Red, Sakshi Gallery, Bombay 1994 Sakshi Gallery, Bangalore 1993 Art Heritage, Delhi Cymroza Art Gallery, Bombay 1992 Sakshi Gallery, Bangalore Seagull For Arts, Calcutta 1991 Sakshi Gallery, Chennai 1990 Cymroza Art Gallery, Bombay 1989 Art Heritage, Delhi 1988 Gallery Sassi, Stockholm, Sweden 1987 Art Heritage, Delhi 1986 Sarala Art Centre, Chennai Cymroza Art Gallery, Bombay 1985 Art Heritage, Delhi Cymroza Art Gallery, Bombay

1982 Urja Art Gallery, Baroda, India

Selected Group Exhibitions

2015 Sakshi group exhibition at the Park, Chennai 2014 In-Between, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai 2013-14 Forgotten Figures', Aicon Gallery, New York 2013 The Sakshi Show’, presented by Sakshi Gallery at The Park, Chennai First Edition, presented by Sakshi Gallery at Taj Krishna, Hyderabad Mapping Gender: Bodies and Sexualities in Contemporary Art across the Global South, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi The Possibility of Being, Exhibit 320, New Delhi In house, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai 2012 Diva, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai Contemporary, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai Contemporary, presented by Sakshi Gallery at The Park, Chennai Looking Back, Looking Forward, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai Daya/ On Kindness: An Australia India cultural exchange, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne Australia Narratives of the Self, Gallery Espace, New Delhi 2011-12 Back to School: Baroda 1979-89, Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai 2011 Anecdotes, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai Daya/On Kindness: An Australia India cultural exchange, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi Review, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai Pause: A Collection, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai High-Light, presented by Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai at The Oberoi, Gurgaon Back to School: Baroda 1979-89, Palette Art Gallery, New Delhi 2010-11 A Collection, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai 2010 Gallery Collection, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai Roots, 25th Anniversary Exhibition of Sakshi Art Gallery, Mumbai at The Park, Chennai. Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai Dali's Elephant, Aicon Gallery, London International Ceramic Centre Baroda - Exhibition at ABS Baroda and at Art & Soul Mumbai- Wired at the Heart Singularities, RL Fine Arts, New York 1.2.3.4.5...In the Line of Fire, Lemongrasshopper, Ahmedabad 2009 Inaugural Show, Sakshi Gallery, Taipei Arco ’09, Sakshi Gallery, Madrid , Spain Gallery Collection, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai ‘Collection of works,’ Sakshi Gallery Mumbai Zip Files, Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai Finding India, Sakshi Gallery, Seoul, South Korea Long Gone & Living Now, Gallerie Mirchandani & Steinreucke, Mumbai 2008 Art Taipei, Sakshi Gallery, Taiwan Gallery Display, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai 2007 Sakshi moves to Colaba, Inaugural Show, Bombay Art on the Wing, An exhibition to support VCARE an animal shelter, Sarjan Gallery, Baroda Invited to exhibit in a show curated by Paternlab, The Teardrop Explodes, London, UK Art Miami, Sakshi Gallery, Miami, USA 2006 Making of Divinity: curated by Ina Puri, Sakshi Gallery, Bombay 2004 Tiranga, rights and responsibilities, curated by Peter Nagy for Shallu & Naveen Jindal, Jehangir Art Gallery, Bombay 6 part painting titled A chanced meeting between Nukata No Okimi and a serendipitous yayavar installed at site in the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum and displayed for six weeks, Fukuoka, Japan 2003 Un passage dans la lumiere” curated by Philippe Mouillon for the Laboratoire in Algiers. The Said & the Unsaid, Apparao Galleries, Bombay

2002 Cinema Stills, Apparao Galleries, New Delhi The Sheen of Metal”, The Pallette Art Gallery, New Delhi Nav-Nayika , Tao Gallery, Bombay 2001 Figures in my Mind, Gallery Espace, Delhi Palette 2001, Delhi Indian Contemporary Fine Art, Saffron Art & Apparao Galleries, Los Angeles, USA 2000 Embarkations, The Millennium Show curated by Yashodhara Dalmia, Sakshi Gallery, Bombay a la nuit tombee, curated by Philippe Mouillon for Berge 2000, Grenoble, France Early works, The Fine Art Company, Bombay Timeless Visions: Contemporary Art of India, From the Herwitz Collection, Peabody Essex Museum, Massachusetts, USA Celebration of the Human Image, curated by Yvette Kumar for Gallery 42, Delhi 1999 The Tale of Six Cities, Lakeeren Art Gallery, Bombay Pacaembu, curated by Phiippe Mouillon for the Laboratoire, Sao Paulo, Brazil Participated in the “Benefit Event for the Elephanta Project” organized by Tasneem Mehta for INTACH, Bombay Imagined Spaces, a one year touring exhibition with Surendran Nair at major art centers in Australia. This exhibition was toured by the Noosa Regional Art Gallery under the directorship of Kevin Wilson. 1998-99 Lines of Desire, curated by Jagjit Chuchun, Alnoor Mitha & Kim Merrington. A Liverpool Art School & Oldham Art Gallery & Museum touring exhibition. 1998 Indian Spring, Apparao Galleries & Gallerie Martini, USA 1997-98 The Edge of Awareness, curated by Adelina Von Furstenberg (Art for the World) for the 50th anniversary of the World Health Organization (WHO). Did an assemblage of three water colors on Maheswari Odhanis titled Stories from the Womb, Geneva – Sao Paulo - New York - Delhi 1997 Nirguna/Saguna, curated by Peter Nagy, Nature Morte, Delhi Women Artists of India - A Celebration of Independence - Curated by Mary-Ann Milford-Lutzker, Mills College Art Gallery, California, USA Epic Reality- Contemporary Narrative Painting from India, from the Herwitz collection Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, USA 1996 Of Women –icons/stars/feasts, Eicher Gallery, Delhi 12 Contemporary Painters - from 1984 to 1996, The Fine Art Resource, Bombay Acro da Lapa – curated by Philippe Mouillon for the Laboratoire, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1995-96: Inside Out: Women Artists of India - a touring exhibition in England, curated by Alison Lloyd for the Middlesborough Art Gallery, UK 1995 Art for Cry, Bombay, Delhi Portrait Exhibition, Sakshi Gallery, Bombay Dialogues of Peace, Curated by Adelina Von Furstenberg for the 50th anniversary of the United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland. Constructed a painted room titled Songs from the Blood of the Weary which is part of the Jehangir Nicholson collection Bombay, An RPG Exhibition, Bombay Contemporary Art- Deutsche Bank Bombay, compiled by The Fine Art Resource, Bombay Indian Winter, Kapil Jariwala Gallery, London, UK 1994 An exhibition of Womens Art - Society for promotion of art - Hyderabad 1993 Images, Sakshi Gallery, Chennai Still Lives, Sakshi Gallery, Bombay Husain ki Sarai , Vadhera Art Gallery, Delhi Images & Words, A travelling exhibition for communal harmony organized by Sahmat - India In small format-Works on paper, Sakshi Gallery, Bombay 1992 Journeys within Landscapes, Sakshi Gallery, Bombay A Nest For Sparrow, curated by C.S Laxmi, Bombay 1989 Artists Alert, In Memory of Safdar Hashmi, Delhi 1988 Cry Exhibition, Bombay Exhibition to Celebrate the Declaration of Human Rights UN, Geneva, Switzerland 1987 Second Biennial of Havana, Cuba Alekhya Darsan - Six Young Contemporaries, Geneva, Switzerland

Print exhibition, Centre for Engraving, Geneva, Switzerland Print exhibition, Bristol, UK 1986 Sixth International Triennale, Delhi 1985 Exhibition of Contemporary Indian Art from the Herwitz Collection, New York, Pennsylvania, Woraster & Vermont, USA 1984 Young Contemporaries, Sheffield, UK 1983 John Nevil Gallery, Canterbury, UK Rebecca Smith Gallery, London, UK 1982 British Council Gallery, Bombay 1981 Young Students Exhibition, Planetarium, Baroda All India Graphic Exhibition, Ahmedabad 1980 All India Photography Exhibition, Mysore 1979 Shaishav, photography exhibition, Baroda 1978 Opening Exhibition of Urja Art Gallery, Baroda

Residencies/Projects

2016 One month residency supported by Sakshi Gallery & hosted by Linika & Sanjay Kumar, Kodaikanal, Tamilnadu 2010 Invited for a one month residency at Montalvo Art Centre, USA 2004 Invited for a three month residency to the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan 2003 Painted on Bombay Suburban train as part of the celebration of the World Social Forum that was conducted in January 2004. This project was organized by Open Circle, Bombay 2000 Transcultural Drawing Residency (CAIR Fellowship) at the Liverpool Art College, John Moores University, UK 1999 Invited by the Noosa Regional Council for an international residency program. Surendran Nair was also part of this program, Noosa, Australia 1995 Worked on site specific location for world art exhibition “Dialogues of Peace” constructing painted room titled “Songs from the blood of the weary” (duration two months), Geneva, Switzerland 1991 International Artist in Residence (duration two months), The Magasin Centre National D’Art Contemporain de Grenoble, France 1990 Asian Cultural Council Rockefeller Foundation “Starr Fellowship” (duration six months), New York, USA 1988-89 Artist in residence at the Konstogskolan Art College – invitation by the Svenska Institute – Stockholm, Sweden

Curatorial Projects

2015 “Subtextual Documentalists” An exhibition of photographs by Jyoti Bhatt & Manisha Gera Baswani – “The Collective Studio Baroda” in collaboration with “SITE art space” hosted by Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai. “Subtextual Documentalists” An exhibition of photographs by Jyoti Bhatt, Manisha Gera Baswani & Noh Suntag from Korea, “The Collective Studio Baroda” in collaboration with “SITE art space” hosted by The Korean Cultural Centre ( with assistance from Kim Kyoungae & Kim Changhyun), New Delhi. 2014 “Residual Remnants" An exhibition of paintings by T.Venkanna, Kim Kyoungae, Abir Karmakar, Poushali Das, Mitali Shah - “The Collective Studio Baroda” in collaboration with “SITE art space”. “Subtextual Documentalists” An exhibition of photographs by Jyoti Bhatt & Manisha Gera Baswani “The Collective Studio Baroda” in collaboration with “SITE art space.” “This Side of the Forest” An exhibition by Vasudevan Akkitham, “The Collective Studio Baroda” in collaboration with “SITE art space.” “Measured Metres”An exhibition of painting & Sculpture by Indrapramit Roy & Mayur

Gupta “The Collective Studio Baroda” in collaboration with “SITE art space” “Generations-Notional worlds” An exhibition of art by K. G. Subramanyan, Nagji Patel, Surendran Nair, Manisha Parekh, Sonatina Mendes & N..Divya, “The Collective Studio Baroda” in collaboration with “SITE art space.” 2012 ‘Quiet Conversations from the Courtyard’, Ashvita, Chennai 2011 ‘Feminine Syntax – Personal Biographies - Lemongrasshopper Art Gallery- Ahmedabad 2008 “Pernoctation & Early Drawings”, Curated the section of early drawing of Surendran Nair for Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai 1998 “Cross Currents”, Touring Exhibition co-curated with Jennifer Lloyd, Norway 1997 “The Printed Image”, Jyoti Bhatt for Cymroza Art Gallery, Bombay 1993 “The Drawn Image”, Cymroza Art Gallery, Bombay 1992 “Four Young Contemporaries”, Cymroza Art Gallery, Bombay, Sakshi Gallery, Bangalore